The need for secure interactions via an authentication process has often led to complex alphanumeric passwords that are challenging to remember and enter. Within the IVR, personal identification numbers (PINs) pose users with a similar challenge. For example, callers to a contact center are often subjected to an interrogation process by agents to verify the callers are who they say they are.

Beyond an inconsistent and unpleasant experience for the customer, these authentication methods directly impact the bottom line. In addition, failure while using automated authentication pushes customers to use the business call center to avoid providing their personal credentials. This additional traffic to the call center increases overall operational costs.

In many circumstances traditional authentication methods fail to deliver on their primary purpose of securing customer accounts and their confidential data as rising losses due to fraud demonstrate. Voice Biometrics offers an easy, quick and positive experience for customers, while reducing costs and fraud risk. It can provide your business with voice biometric solutions that offer consumers a single credential that can be used across your customer service channels. This can be within the enterprise contact center transformation, a customer care and insight solution or a mobile initiative.

Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at five real world scenarios that leverage Nuance Voice Biometric solutions. You’ll learn how you could empower your own organization to improve security and ensure regulatory compliance, while reducing costs and delivering increased convenience to your customers, regardless of the communication channel. The five scenarios, we’ll look at are:

1. Contact center Identification and Verification (ID&V)

2. Mobile app authentication

3. Web site transaction verification

4. Account enrollment and verification service

5. High-risk credit card transaction verification

SCENARIO 1: Contact center ID&V scenario

Large financial institutions have a wide variety of business units including retail banking, private banking, corporate banking, brokerage services, and wealth management. Their contact centers can handle millions of calls a year, and despite years of optimization, only 55% of callers are able to self-authenticate using a PIN based system. As a result, 45% of these calls are transferred to contact center agents who spend an average of 60 seconds authenticating callers by asking multiple personal and transactional questions. Agents report that many customers are annoyed by having to answer several questions, especially when they are unable to provide an answer. By the time the authentication process is over, the agent rushes to respond to the customer request because the caller is already impatient. Many of the calls are for tasks that could easily be performed in the IVR.

This is driving up contact center costs, and tying up agents on calls that are not revenue generating. Executive management is demanding that the contact center drive more revenues while requiring cost reductions. The resolve to this situation is to deploy the Nuance Voice Biometric solution to automatically authenticate callers to the IVR. Customers are prompted to say “My voice is my password” and are automatically authenticated.

Automated authentication has increased from 55% of calls to 95%. Callers that fail or bypass automated authentication and reach an agent no longer need to answer security questions, as the callers are passively authenticated during their conversations with agents. Average call handling time was reduced by 20 seconds.

The greatest benefit however has been an average increase of 40 seconds that agents are able to spend upselling customers. Additional revenues along with reduction in AHT delivers a ROI within 6 months of deployment. An unexpected benefit is an increase in call center agent satisfaction, which has reduced the turnover rate. Marketing leveraged this innovative technology in their advertising and PR activities to position the bank as an innovative leader in delivering improved customer experiences. The financial institution has seen an increase in customer retention rates, as well as an increase in new customer acquisition.

Stay tuned as we take a look at using Voice Biometrics for mobile app authentication next.

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About Brett Beranek

Like you, CX and biometrics expert Brett Beranek – Director Product Strategy, Enterprise – is fascinated by transformative technologies that have a real impact on our lives. With over fifteen years of experience in the customer experience and biometrics space, Brett brings strategic and tactical insights to organizations wishing to deliver a better experience to their customers via innovative security technologies.
Prior to joining Nuance, Brett a technologist and entrepreneur by education and passion, successfully introduced several disruptive technologies to the health-care, IT and security markets, including as a partner of facial recognition firm Viion Systems and member of Genetec’s management team, a security firm that transformed the video surveillance market. Brett also currently serves on the advisory board of high-tech healthcare startup GaitTronics.
Brett earned a Bachelor of Commerce, Information Systems Major, from McGill University as well as an Executive Marketing certificate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.
Brett loves travelling the globe and discovering new cultures with his three kids, Layla, Rayan and Nora and his wife, Tania.